A Call to Discipleship: Reflections from Colossians

December 15th

Seventeenth Day of Advent

And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross.

Colossians 2:13-14

Sunday morning. Dressed in our best. Smile carefully in place. Façade complete. How many of us show up on Sunday morning wearing our masks of perfection? We cover our pain, our brokenness, our sin. Yes, perhaps this assessment seems harsh. Perhaps most Sundays we require no façade. But… at some point… we have all experienced this hiding, this covering of pain and sin.

What would happen if we confessed our vulnerability, the brokenness we so carefully hide?

When Joel and I first married, we joined a neighborhood Bible study. The wonderful people in this study experienced brokenness in profound ways. I can’t remember all the stories, but I can remember the raw vulnerability in the group. The pain of sin and brokenness had shattered all façades… and I can remember the profound presence of the Holy Spirit. I remember the power in our prayers. I remember the fullness in Christ.

Secret sin lurks in all our hearts. The most embarrassing sin we often push deeper and deeper down, even lying to ourselves of its destruction. But…

Jesus died for every sin.

Jesus shed the glorious heavens for a humble stable.

To nail our sin to the cross.

Jesus, Immanuel, God with us.

Jesus forgives us from all sin.

Jesus erases the record that stands against us.

When we confess our sin to God and others, when we share our vulnerability, Jesus delivers us from our sin. Jesus erases the record, giving us a clean slate. And as we are washed by His blood, we experience the profound presence of the Holy Spirit. We experience power in our prayers. We experience the fullness of Christ.

Jesus is coming… Jesus, the One that desires relationship with us so much that he comes to us in the form of a baby. He comes to us as the embodiment of vulnerability and weakness… so that we might experience His deliverance, redemption, and freedom. Let us await this gift in anticipation.